Augustus expects fast-paced game against Atlanta on Sunday

Seimone Augustus, the Lynx's leading scorer in the regular season and in the playoffs, said Saturday she is award the Atlanta Dream have one player on the all-WNBA first defensive team, forward Angel McCoughtry, and two more on the second defensive team.

"I respect the fact that those players made the all-defensive team," Augustus said, "but we have a game plan and we are going to stick to it. Hopefully they don’t create too much havoc for us."

In winning two of three games with Indiana in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Dream forced the Fever to average 19 turnovers per game.

Augustus said the Dream will run a lot, but two games against Phoenix in the Western Conference Finals prepared the Lynx. "[It will be a] very high tempo, similar to the games against Phoenix, if not faster," Augustus said. "Their guards can get out and run in transition. A lot of teams get out and run, but with Atlanta you need to worry about Angel McCoughtry, Lindsey Harding and Armintie Price attacking, so you have to be on guard at all times trying to keep them out of the paint."

McCoughtry is especially dangerous. She gets to the free throw line more than any other player in the WNBA and averaged 21.6 points per games, finishing just behind Diana Taurasi of Phoenix in the scoring race.

Augustus said the Twin Cities seem excited about the WNBA Finals."Everywhere around town from the grocery store to the mall, everywhere you could think of they are talking about the Lynx, they are talking about Game 1," she said. "Talking about different posters they have made, things they are going to scream. It is going to be an amazing crowd and an amazing atmosphere."

Lynx officials are expecting at least 15,000. The Lynx attendance record of a few hundred over 16,000 could fall.

Roman Augustoviz spends Minnesota's winters covering college hockey, specifically the Gophers, and other University of Minnesota sports. During the summer, he writes about the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, with a dose of U sports sprinkled in. Follow him on Twitter @RomanStrib.